James Clephan
Encyclopedia
James Clephan was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy
who took part in the Battle of Trafalgar
in 1805. He rose from the ranks to become a Captain
. A flag presented to him after the battle by the crew of the ship on which he served at Trafalgar was sold at auction for £384,000 on Trafalgar Day
2009.
in Scotland
in 1768, Clephan was originally a weaver but joined the Merchant Navy
when the weaving industry went into decline. He was press ganged
into the Royal Navy
on 23 July 1794 aged 26. Beginning as an Able Bodied
2nd Class Mate aboard HMS Sibyl
, he then made 2nd Class Gunner's Mate on HMS Doris
and master's mate
on 10 October 1796. He was promoted to Midshipman
on 7 January 1801 and was promoted to lieutenant on 31 July 1801 for distinguished conduct during the successful capture of the French
corvette
Chevrette at Brest
. Despite being wounded and knocked overboard, Clephan was still the first man to reach the enemy's deck. On his promotion Admiral Sir William Cornwallis
said "..you well deserve your promotion; few officers have earned it so hardly."
Assigned to the 90-gun HMS Namur
, Clephan served as her Second Lieutenant until the Peace of Amiens in April 1802. Taking the opportunity to marry during this brief interval, in March 1803 Clephan was appointed First Lieutenant of the 74-gun HMS Spartiate, which had been captured from the French during the Battle of the Nile
. He was on board Spartiate during the Battle of Trafalgar
in 1805, after which he was presented with the ship's Union Jack
as a mark of esteem from the crew. He served on board Spartiate until December 1809.
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In 1811 he joined HMS Dragon
, and in April was promoted to commander and given the sloop HMS Charybdis
in which he captured two American vessels, the brig
William Rathbone and the privateer
Blockade in 1813 during the American War of 1812
. In 1814–15 he participated in the British expedition
against New Orleans and, on its failure, conveyed the despatches. In August 1815, with the Peace
, he was paid off at Deptford
and placed on half pay. He retired in 1840 with the rank of captain
. He was one of only 16 press ganged men to attain the rank of Captain out of an estimated 300,000 men.
Clephan retired to Edinburgh
and died there in 1851 aged 83.
reported that the Union Jack which had been presented to Clephan after Trafalgar had been discovered in a drawer by a descendant and was to be auctioned
. The 11ft x 7ft (3.5m x 2.1m) flag had been made by the crew out of 31 bunting panels and was riddled with holes made by cannonshot and bullets. As the only surviving Union Jack from the battle, it was expected to raise £15,000 but actually made £384,000 (AUD$687,774). Among the unsuccessful bidders was the National Maritime Museum
.
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
who took part in the Battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
in 1805. He rose from the ranks to become a Captain
Captain (Royal Navy)
Captain is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy. It ranks above Commander and below Commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a Colonel in the British Army or Royal Marines and to a Group Captain in the Royal Air Force. The rank of Group Captain is based on the...
. A flag presented to him after the battle by the crew of the ship on which he served at Trafalgar was sold at auction for £384,000 on Trafalgar Day
Trafalgar Day
Trafalgar Day is the celebration of the victory won by the Royal Navy, commanded by Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson over the combined French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. The formation of the Navy League in 1894 gave added impetus to the movement to recognise...
2009.
Biography
Born in Scoonie in FifeFife
Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...
in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
in 1768, Clephan was originally a weaver but joined the Merchant Navy
Merchant Navy
The Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom, and describes the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and are regulated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency...
when the weaving industry went into decline. He was press ganged
Impressment
Impressment, colloquially, "the Press", was the act of taking men into a navy by force and without notice. It was used by the Royal Navy, beginning in 1664 and during the 18th and early 19th centuries, in wartime, as a means of crewing warships, although legal sanction for the practice goes back to...
into the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
on 23 July 1794 aged 26. Beginning as an Able Bodied
Able Seaman (rank)
In the British Royal Navy in the middle of the 18th century, the term able seaman referred to a seaman with at least two years' experience at sea...
2nd Class Mate aboard HMS Sibyl
French frigate Sibylle (1792)
The Sibylle was an 38-gun Hébé class frigate of the French Navy. She was launched in 1791 at the dockyards in Toulon and placed in service in 1792...
, he then made 2nd Class Gunner's Mate on HMS Doris
HMS Doris (1795)
HMS Doris was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, which saw service in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Doris was built by Cleveley, of Gravesend and was launched on 31 August 1795. She entered service in November 1795, operating as part of the Channel Fleet during the...
and master's mate
Master's mate
Master's mate is an obsolete rating which was used by the Royal Navy, United States Navy and merchant services in both countries for a senior petty officer who assisted the master...
on 10 October 1796. He was promoted to Midshipman
Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...
on 7 January 1801 and was promoted to lieutenant on 31 July 1801 for distinguished conduct during the successful capture of the French
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
corvette
Corvette
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...
Chevrette at Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
. Despite being wounded and knocked overboard, Clephan was still the first man to reach the enemy's deck. On his promotion Admiral Sir William Cornwallis
William Cornwallis
Admiral the Honourable Sir William Cornwallis GCB was a Royal Navy officer who fought in the Napoleonic Wars. He was the brother of Charles Cornwallis, the 1st Marquess Cornwallis, governor-general of India...
said "..you well deserve your promotion; few officers have earned it so hardly."
Assigned to the 90-gun HMS Namur
HMS Namur (1756)
HMS Namur was a 90-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Chatham Dockyard to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment as amended in 1750, and launched on 3 March 1756....
, Clephan served as her Second Lieutenant until the Peace of Amiens in April 1802. Taking the opportunity to marry during this brief interval, in March 1803 Clephan was appointed First Lieutenant of the 74-gun HMS Spartiate, which had been captured from the French during the Battle of the Nile
Battle of the Nile
The Battle of the Nile was a major naval battle fought between British and French fleets at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt from 1–3 August 1798...
. He was on board Spartiate during the Battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
in 1805, after which he was presented with the ship's Union Jack
Union Flag
The Union Flag, also known as the Union Jack, is the flag of the United Kingdom. It retains an official or semi-official status in some Commonwealth Realms; for example, it is known as the Royal Union Flag in Canada. It is also used as an official flag in some of the smaller British overseas...
as a mark of esteem from the crew. He served on board Spartiate until December 1809.
HMS Dragon (1798)
HMS Dragon was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 2 April 1798 at Rotherhithe. She was designed by Sir William Rule, and was the only ship built to her draught....
, and in April was promoted to commander and given the sloop HMS Charybdis
HMS Charybdis (1809)
HMS Charybdis was a Royal Navy built by Mark Richards and John Davidson at Hythe, and launched in 1809. She captured two American prizes during the War of 1812 before she was laid up in 1815 and sold in 1819.-Service:...
in which he captured two American vessels, the brig
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
William Rathbone and the privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
Blockade in 1813 during the American War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
. In 1814–15 he participated in the British expedition
Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815 and was the final major battle of the War of 1812. American forces, commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson, defeated an invading British Army intent on seizing New Orleans and the vast territory the United States had acquired with the...
against New Orleans and, on its failure, conveyed the despatches. In August 1815, with the Peace
Treaty of Ghent
The Treaty of Ghent , signed on 24 December 1814, in Ghent , was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
, he was paid off at Deptford
Deptford
Deptford is a district of south London, England, located on the south bank of the River Thames. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne, and from the mid 16th century to the late 19th was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Navy Dockyards.Deptford and the docks are...
and placed on half pay. He retired in 1840 with the rank of captain
Captain (Royal Navy)
Captain is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy. It ranks above Commander and below Commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a Colonel in the British Army or Royal Marines and to a Group Captain in the Royal Air Force. The rank of Group Captain is based on the...
. He was one of only 16 press ganged men to attain the rank of Captain out of an estimated 300,000 men.
Clephan retired to Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
and died there in 1851 aged 83.
Trafalgar flag
On 8 October 2009 The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
reported that the Union Jack which had been presented to Clephan after Trafalgar had been discovered in a drawer by a descendant and was to be auctioned
Auction
An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
. The 11ft x 7ft (3.5m x 2.1m) flag had been made by the crew out of 31 bunting panels and was riddled with holes made by cannonshot and bullets. As the only surviving Union Jack from the battle, it was expected to raise £15,000 but actually made £384,000 (AUD$687,774). Among the unsuccessful bidders was the National Maritime Museum
National Maritime Museum
The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England is the leading maritime museum of the United Kingdom and may be the largest museum of its kind in the world. The historic buildings forming part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, it also incorporates the Royal Observatory, Greenwich,...
.
External links
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1218813/Last-flag-Battle-Trafalgar-expected-sell-15-000-auction.htmlClephan and the Union Jack in the Daily MailDaily MailThe Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
8 October 2009] - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6865456.ece'Last surviving Trafalgar flag expected to fetch £15,000 at auction' The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
8 October 2009] - Charles Miller Ltd: http://www.charlesmillerltd.com